Tania Vitvitsky: Eight Weeks in Ukraine 2023; life during war (Lviv, Izky, Kyiv, Ternopil, and Chortkiv) Slide show and presentation.

After two-months in Ukraine last year, I returned to Ukraine in late September 2023. In contrast to the previous year, when I stayed only in Lviv, this year, I traveled to Izky (in Zakarpattia), Kyiv, Ternopil, and Chortkiv.

The purpose of this year’s trip was to continue engaging with Lviv-based Ukrainian Education

Platform, a social-educational non-profit, as well as Kyiv-based Eleos-Ukraine. Both organizations work through partner organizations throughout the country, serving the neediest, including internally displaced women and children (IDPs).

This trip also provided an opportunity to meet with scholarship students supported by the Boston Friends of UCU at Ukrainian Catholic University’s School of Public Management.

Ukraine is experiencing a massive displacement of its citizenry due to the Russian invasion.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), as of May 2023, there were 5.1 million IDPs in Ukraine; as of July 2023, there were 6.2 refugees globally, approximately 1/3 of the population.